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What makes intelligence human? That is the unspoken question (branching off into a multitude of streams of related questions) throughout the cooperative narratives that span the course of over 300 years in Speak by Louisa Hall. First comes the diary of Mary Bradford, a young Puritan girl setting sail for the New World with her … Continue reading The Unspoken in Louisa Hall’s SPEAK
Gabrielle Moss's short story, Lost Dog, is a little bit spooky. It's the story of a young boy, Hunter, his younger sister, Brianna, and the werewolf in their backyard. It's good and it's also funny. Here's a line: "Brianna gives him this look where she looks exactly like their mother when she’s disappointed in him. … Continue reading weekend reading
As dusk settles in, the streetlights blink on one by one, and the neighborhood children are sent scattering to illusions of wholesome meals, sweet tea, and the Late Show before bed. Little do they know that as their block buzzed in the suburban afternoon and they explored the culverts and no-man's-lands that stitched their block … Continue reading Things Wither When The Nightmare Factory Book Club Confronts Domestic Horror….
Cosmopolis was widely dismissed upon publication in April of 2003. It was an "intellectual turkey shoot," (The New York Times) a lesser DeLillo, an ornate, remote curiosity... Oh, what a difference five years and a financial collapse wrought. Eric Packer's farfetched machinations in the world of cyber capital now had some visible real world counterparts … Continue reading The Authors & Auteurs Book Club Survived Cosmopolis and Looks Forward To Paprika
In An Interview with Celeste Ng, Nicole S. Chung discusses issues of race, family, representation, the writing process, and more with Celeste Ng, author of Everything I Never Told You. The interview centers on the Asian American experience, with Ng relating how her own childhood family and current family (with her husband and son) influence her work. Ng says, … Continue reading weekend reading
In Falconetti Drinks the Water of Anguish, by Garrett Saleen, Rene Falconetti is dying. An expatriate of Paris living and working in Rio de Janerio, Falconetti reminisces on her life as an underappreciated theater actress. This story is good. It is beautifully written, non-linear, and sad. Here's a line: "The landscape passes like a dream—everything is wet … Continue reading weekend reading
There is a reason that Judy Greer looks familiar. No. She isn't your dental hygienist. No. You probably didn't spit slurred game at her downtown last week after a few too many. No. She isn't the wacky ghost in your house that moves stuff around and makes the walls bleed when you're not looking. Judy … Continue reading Judy Greer’s I DON’T KNOW WHAT YOU KNOW ME FROM Has Taught The Stand Up Sit Down Book Club What It Means To Be The Second Banana
Thomas Constantine vol. 1 The Spark and the Flame by Jeff Lemire, Ray Fawkes, and Renato Guedes John Constantine has been through a lot. From his introduction in 1985 to his 300 issue run from 1988 to 2013, the con man street sorcerer has had plenty of adventures. In 2013 when DC announced the end of … Continue reading #2015ComicBookRenaissance: Staff Selections (8.26.15)
The Southern Reach Trilogy (also known as Area X) by Jeff VanderMeer is a hypnotic incantation that transmutes subtlety into a literary universe as it builds itself inside your skull over the course of three books. Annihilation introduces us to Area X -- a pristine, alien landscape that has unfolded onto an unsuspecting fishing village for no … Continue reading The Nightmare Factory Book Club Gets Lost In Area X and NOBODY MAKES IT OUT ALIVE!!!!
In The Story Is the Thing, Lydia Davis (author of Break it Down and Can't and Won't ) shamelessly gushes over the writing of legendary short story author Lucia Berlin. She states, "Berlin is unflinching, pulls no punches, and yet the brutality of life is always tempered by her compassion for human frailty, the wit and intelligence of that … Continue reading weekend reading
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